September 10, 2019 - Basement Group Monthly Meeting

Recap and discussion about 9/9/2019 County Committee meeting

o Discussion of the Census

§ It was worthwhile and taking part in the process can make a big difference. Others felt that while important to hear the information, it took up too much time from other matters.

§ The Brooklyn Borough President is focused on making partnership connections – The Basement Group can be part of this.

o Resolution put forward by Brandon and the non-vote that got it passed

§ Frank had an opportunity to extend a hand to the progressives and he took it. Arguing against transparency in County’s finances doesn’t make sense.

§ It’s fantastic that the resolution passed and encouraged by Josh Skaller’s rules reform

§ The fact that public attention spurs reforms is great – but it doesn’t mean much if the resolutions don’t go anywhere

o Josh’s resolution should have gone to a vote

§ But there’s also a conflict of interest now that Josh is the presiding officer in the committee

§ Also unclear when the committee haas been meeting

§ There are sometimes things that are too in the weeds and there is a vote to send it to the committee instead of getting into it with the whole body

o What happens with the explanation about the money?

§ There was an experience of anger in their response saying that they publish the budget every 6 months

§ Josh’s rules reform goes into more detail on what they should be presenting to the full body

o Updates from Josh Skaller on various resolutions and rules

§ Proxy reform was killed in the executive committee around some election cycle time

§ Doug’s reform hasn’t even made it to the rules committee

· There’s no accountability on when that’s coming

§ In questioning about the proxy reform he said that it was killed in the rules committee

o Meeting operations still need work

§ Looking at the proxy line at the meeting – they’re still not prepared for the large numbers

§ We still need to look into the credibility of how the CC is counting votes, both ours and anyone’s that we’re carrying

§ The dynamic hasn’t really changed and the CC Executives aren’t changing who they pay attention to.

· So what’s the best way to maneuver around that reality?

§ CC allowed time for questions at the end which is a great move forward, but none of the questions or requests were being answered or written down.

· There are 6 secretaries – but they haven’t been at the last few meetings.

· Asked Josh if there were minutes from the executive committee – and he said no

· There’s tracking of who votes for how people voted, but it’s not shared

o So what’s the best way to maneuver around that reality?

o What big ideas can we have to get things moving forward?

§ We need to stay on top of the resolution that was passed at the meeting and also the rules change that was presented

§ Post minutes we take on the website or some other link that connects to the website

§ Progressive DLs that understand the rules is the best avenue for the changes we want

- Extending invitations and communication to join or about The Basement Group

o Josh Skaller

§ He might not know about us as an organized group yet

§ Fits within our organizing document in his role in county committee

· The Basement Group is not about transactional things; we are a home base for the 52nd – general idea is that you, Josh, can come and be a part of it and just come and talk as another CC member

o Our elected see the ADCs and the KCCC as a transactional meeting to just put people into judgeships

§ Counter argument is that it can be an organizing tool – like The Basement Group

· Start with the olive branch and just invite him with no questions/agenda about him/his new role

§ Let them know that we exist

· Josh has been saying at least to CBID he feels excluded in general – so could use it to our advantage

§ In future discussions -

· With his position as rules chair, we have the most amount of leverage coming from the 52nd

· Getting the proxy initiative back on

o Jason Shelley

§ We would email him in his role with the ADC (not in his role as IND president)

§ Aaron and Steve will email him to ask him is if the ADC will be meeting again and when

§ We will not be inviting him to a Basement Group meeting at this time

o JoAnn is very proud that we have an ADC in the 52nd – could use this as a way to connect with her

§ For now, we’re not going to

- Rep Your Block

o Most in The Basement Group said that we’re not going to carry petitions for IND like we did in 2018

§ In the past, NKD ran on IND’s petitions because it was much lower turn out pre-Trump

§ The volume was much different in 2018 and so had to engage with Josh and Anne Swern

· RYB leads met several times with them in order to avoid primaries – the overarching goal was to get as many new people in the CC process in the 52nd, but also coordinating with the long-standing group (IND)

· Many of the IND folks didn’t actually carry/go out

· A lot of these people are now proxies for people we don’t agree with

· We don’t want to carry petitions for someone who’s not walking with us – no matter what club they’re from

§ If we don’t coordinate with them this time, there is a higher risk of primaries

· We can look at where we think they’re going to run and try to plan, but the biggest difference with IND and RYB is that we were really trying to get people to rep THEIR block

o What’s the basement group strategy for RYB?

§ Most of The Basement Group is in RYB

· Joe and Meg are the Assembly District Organizers for the 52nd

§ 52nd has about 400 members and about half were appointed

§ The 52nd had the highest engagement through RYB

- Candidate Presentations

o Brandon West for City Council of the 39th

o Jesse Pierce for District Leader of the 52nd

- Important Fall Dates and Next Steps

o Next meeting will be Sunday, October 20 at 6:00 PM location, TBD

§ Topics:

· Running people for the judicial nominating conventions

o Could have someone come to talk about the process and the role – Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, her husband, and/or JBV

· What other groups are we members of and could connect on RYB?

· Holding a strategy session for Basement Group's outreach for County Committee recruitment

o October 11 is the date by when to change party registration to vote in the primaries

§ Get your neighbors registered!